ASUNCION – Paraguay’s Senad anti-drug secretariat on Thursday searched the Asuncion hotel room where one of the four Mexicans arrested earlier this week and allegedly belonging to Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel had stayed as part of a larger operation in which a large stash of cocaine was discovered.

Senad and Attorney General’s Office agents seized 308 kilograms of highly pure cocaine at a house in Greater Asuncion and documents in the hotel room registered to Jimmy Waine Gallien, considered to be the head of the busted drug trafficking cell. Two Paraguayan citizens – also believed to be part of the group – had been arrested on Wednesday.

The three other Mexicans arrested were identified as Martin Manuel Huerta, Armando Carrillo and Marcos Antonio Castro, and they are being held at Senad headquarters in Asuncion.

The Paraguayans taken into custody are Patricio Fernandez and Pablo Britez, Senad said.

Along with making these arrests, Senad agents searched a home in the town of Villa Elisa, in Greater Asuncion, where they found the cocaine, although initially they estimated the total amount of the drug at 200 kg.

The drug was slated to be shipped to The Netherlands, Senad said, adding that it had monitored the members of the group for three months in an operation coordinated with Brazilian intelligence authorities.

Drug traffickers are smuggling Bolivian coca into Paraguay and converting it to cocaine in hidden labs there for sale in Brazil, Argentina and other countries, authorities say.

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